Facts
in the News
- Over 50% of the Internet traffic
of the world flows through Virginia.
- The state of Virginia leads the
country in the number of Internet
businesses...with over 3000.
- Taken from the May issue of
Graphic Designs Spring Technology survey:
"97% of the multimedia industry use
computers-for-graphic design."
- E-mail is currently the leading
medium for business-to-business information
transfer.
- Over 10 million business
(80–90%) will have Internet presence within
the next five years.
If
you are not already online, are you wasting valuable
time?
Answers to those
"what you always wanted to know about the Internet
but were afraid to ask" questions
Internet-Related
Questions
Q How do the current
technologies apply to my marketing efforts?
A Advertising—Reach
new customers in an innovative way by directing people to
your web site in all other advertising, thus maximizing
your web existence. Then utilize other interactive media,
such as an 800 number, with fax-on-demand to immediately
provide information to customers who respond to your ads.
Promotions—Special announcements highlighting your
sales promotions (i.e., discounted items, seasonal
events, or new store locations) are updated easily via
your web site. Marketing Research—Get better
information faster as a supplement to telemarketing
surveys, enhance your data collection with online polls
of your products and services. In addition, tap into the
Internet to access industry experts and competitive
information, such as website
Garage. Product
Development—Use e-mail and conferencing to speed up
the product development cycle and bring products to the
market sooner. Public Relations—When you need to
reach the press, keep in mind that many members of local
and national media now prefer to receive information,
such as press releases, electronically. Relationship and
Database Marketing—Learn what your customers want
and deliver it ...with one-on-one marketing techniques.
Solicit information from prospects through your web site,
or make new inroads to your existing customer data base
with two-way communications CGI scripted forms.
Q How can
technology improve my information flow?
A Product Distribution
and Fulfillment—You can leverage technology to save
money, sell for less, and sell faster on-line via credit
card with secure servers. Many products can be viewed
online, the price negotiated, and the product delivered
without your customers ever physically being in your
showroom. Customer Communications— Communicate with
customers more directly, more inexpensively, and more
frequently than ever before with e-mail, online
newsletters and articles, and updates on your web site.
Customers want information to be available at their
convenience; current technologies make that possible. You
can even give online customers an advantage by promoting
or testing new products with them. Internal
Communications—Increase sales force effectiveness by
distributing up-to-minute information and tools with an
intranet (internal network). You can distribute
pertinent information quickly and inexpensively while
reducing paper use and associated cost. Fax-on-demand can
supply literature to sales representatives in the field.
Audio and video-conferencing ensure that all employees (wherever
they’re located) can participate in corporate
announcements.
Exploring the
Possibilities:
Q How can I
convince customers to buy online?
A Public perception is
sometimes the greatest barrier to selling online.
Consumers are concerned about security and service. You
can provide via your host provider secure, encrypted transactions to make it easy
and comfortable for customers to buy on-line. Post-sale,
set customer’s expectations by electronically
confirming orders with a reference number and delivery
date. Provide an e-mail address, a toll-free number, and
a fax line for customer questions.
Q Can electronic
communications drive foot traffic?
A You can use your web
sites CGI forms and e-mail correspondence to draw
customers to your company. In all your electronic
communications, use one or more signatures (i.e., your
phone and fax numbers and street address...all the
information typically on a business card). Your web
site can also include a map to your location, with
driving instructions. Banner ads can be developed,
indicating special sales promos and announcements for the
first 10 - 100 customers on a specific date.
Q How can I make
sure my web site attracts an audience?
A That is were L.A.
Images’ eye-catching
images comes in. We can update your site with a new image
or develop banner ads listed with the LinkExchange
Network on a regular basis.
This will keep your customers coming back to your site.
Special discounts, limited-time offers, or close-outs can
attract potential buyers. Cross-marketing your site with
links to related sites can draw people with interest in
your products or services. Promoting your site through
traditional means also helps get the word out. Potential
visitors need to see your web address (URL,Universal
Resource Locator) on your business cards,
letterhead, invoices, receipts, print ads, TV ads,
outdoor signage, and promotional items. Your domain name
(i.e., www.Yourname.com) makes locating your site
easy.
Q What's in it for
my company?
A In addition to the main objective, to increase
sales, the Internet will benefit your company in the
following ways:
- Information can be disseminated
quickly.
- Business hours are extended.
- Efficiency is improved.
- Sales force can be educated.
- New markets can be reached.
- Information will be kept current.
- Your marketing dollar will be
maximized.
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Q What's in it for my
customers?
A Your customers will
get the information when they want it. With electronic
media, you increase the odds that customers will find
information about your products or services at the time
they are ready to make decisions. Your customers get the
information how they want it. Some customers prefer
e-mail. Some prefer faxes or a toll free number,
especially if they do not have access to a computer. When
customers have a choice of access options, they’re
more likely to feel comfortable contacting you when the
need arises. Remember, on the Internet your information
is available 24 hours-a-day, 365 days a year.
Your customers can tell you what they think via your
guest book. Provide ways for them to send questions,
concerns, or compliments. The responses you receive can
be invaluable in developing strategic plans and targeting
your marketing efforts.
Necessary Hardware
and Hookup Cost:
It may be hard to realize that
not owning a computer is no barrier to prevent you from
getting a Web site. Your homepage file is hosted on your
service provider’s computer hard drive. The
information provided does not have to lead to interactive
correspondence between you and your customer at first.
You simply want your information to be easily accessible
and to disseminate the message you desire. To fully
utilize and maximize the technology, we highly recommend
you do purchase a computer system; however, it is not
necessary to have Internet presence.
System:
A fully capable system with enough ram memory, hard
drive space, and communication modem speed can be
purchased for under $1,000.
Internet Host Provider & Search engine submission:
Typical cost for a 25 meg (125–150 page
text/graphics) homepage would be over $30/ month.
However with the host provider we use, ICOM, it's only $8.25/month. In some cases your
Internet provider account or Slip account will include
personal web space, however not for business use.
There are hundreds of search engines, only a few are
useful and widely used. Many companies have sprang up
offering very cheap submission packages using robots. If
you want things done right, the old proverb, "you
get what you pay for", truly applies here. That is
why we at L.A. Images believe only manual
submission to the most used search engines work for our
customers. A few search engines will spider and index
your site immediately, others within hours, (usually
takes 2-3 weeks). We create your meta-tags to allow
search engine robots to properly index your site.
Meta-tags are hidden key words imbedded in your source
code (such as your company name, product, services or
industry nouns).Typical
HTML Development Cost:
- Single-page site cost $295.00
- Small site (3–8 pages)
$595.00
- Medium Site (10–17 pages)
$1,295.00
- Page Maintenance $35/hour
- CGI scripting $55/hour
TERMS: 50% down payment with purchase
order, remainder due upon completion of site (prior to
ftping to service provider).
Registering "Your"
Domain Name vs. a virtual domain:
The registration cost for your domain name is $70 for
two years with InterNic. There is a
$30 initial registration or transfer fee. However, it is
not required that you have a domain name— it just
helps brand your identity with customers remembering your
URL. Domain names are being registered at record rates,
yours may be used already. It may not seem initially
important, however many large corporations found out the
hard way.... Dragging their feet was costly in both
dollars, brand identity and attempting to register a
short concise URL. Once you register your URL, it's yours
forever, no matter who or where your site is located.
Also, registering your domain name instead of using a
free virtual domain reduces the need to change all your
correspondence due to changing your host provider.
Conclusion
L.A. Images offers our
customers "Curb Service." This means, full
customer service for hardware, software support, Internet
connectivity, and training. Exploring the information
super highway can be a frustrating experience if you have
to brave it alone. We support you through the entire
experience...from the start through continued support for
updating your homepage and helping you and your staff
improve Internet skills. We also make suggestions of
hardware and software upgrades to maximize the efficiency
of your system for no charge.
L.A. Images is a new business dedicated to the sale of a
unique collection of real photographic high-tech, high
resolution images which are licensed to corporate customers and
small businesses. LID ArtÔ products and
services can promote sales growth and cultivate new
product development for our customers. To date, over 100
products have been developed and are distributed across
six major categories:
Created by
the nature of physics, LID Art images will never repeat
an identical pattern, much like a snowflake. These
one-of-a-kind, eye catching, non-controversial images
create curiosity by the viewer, thus allowing our
customer’s information, product, or services to be
absorbed and remembered. Our customers can establish
either exclusive or nonexclusive licenses yielding a
corporate identity with an artistic value.
| If you
have been considering jumping into the modern age
of high technology advertising, L.A. Images
products and services will lead your company into
this era and can improve your bottom line. Please
give us a call at (800) 411–6740 to discuss
the possibilities. |
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